Category Archives: Charity Matters

A LESSON

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The former £41,000 a year campaign director for the League Against Cruel Sports, Steven Taylor, has been jailed for eight months for defrauding the charity of £15,000 with his company credit card.

Taylor,36, had previous convictions for obtaining property by deception and forgery, aspects that were unknown to the League when they took him on, based on excellent references, in 2009, something the League says should stand as a lesson to all charities.

One of the hundreds of frauds was the purchase of an iPad as a leaving present for an outgoing chief executive, for which Taylor used his company credit card and then pocketed the cash donations from staff.

BADGER-KILLING COMING

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A cull of Britain’s badgers, based on the claim by farmers that it will halt the spread of TB in cattle, is being piloted in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset, with farmers given licence to shoot them by the government’s Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.(DEFRA) If the cull does stop the spread of TB then it will be extended to other areas of the UK.

Opposing the cull the RSPCA is urging consumers to boycott milk from west Somerset and Gloucestershire farmers and to avoid visiting and thereby commercially supporting the areas.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) claims that unless it’s members were allowed to kill badgers the price of milk would go up, the same argument as used by the farming fraternity to defend factory farming.

DUCK THE ISSUE

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Meanwhile the cruelty suffered by farm-reared ducks deprived of any access to water, around two-thirds of them currently, is also giving the RSPCA cause for concern.

There are no legal requirements for ducks , which are water fowl, to be given open water to bathe in, and neither the British Poultry Council nor the National Farmers Union have sensibly made this a stipulation for humanely rearing the birds.

In a recent YouGov survey of 2,212 people more than 80% said that they had never thought about how farmed ducks were reared, and 80% that they agreed with the statement “I am appalled that ducks farmed for their meat never get access to bathing water”.

EAT UP

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One interesting charity idea using the web is Casserole, which puts those who can’t easily cook for themselves in touch with those prepared to cook a little more and deliver it.

Cooks who are preparing a meal for their family post details of what they are cooking and when on the Casserole website and can then be contacted by local elderly people wanting a nutritious meal delivered.

The scheme was set up by social media consultancy FutureGov as part of a Government-funded initiative Tomorrow Together.

CHARITY VENUE IN WATERLOO

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The Waterloo Conference Centre, Sandall Street, London, SE1 8UJ, is contained within the Unoin Jack Club, a service charity supporting the armed forces.

There are 280 bedrooms across 10 types and 12 meeting and conference spaces for 12-140 delegates, all with charity rates offered. Options for private dining are also available.

Tel 020 7902 6000 email [email protected] www.ujclub.co.uk

(Note. See also Event Organisers Update, August issue, for review of food. www.seoevent.co.uk)

Charity Matters October/November 2012 ISSUE 45

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NOW THEN, NOW THEN Charity fundraiser Sir Jimmy Savile, who died last year and was given a lavish funeral, was also a paedophile who used his celebrity status….

SAVE THE (UK) CHILDREN Some donors to the Save the Children charity have withdrawn their financial support following the charity’s upcoming campaign to help….

SAVE THE SUICIDAL Around 3,000 middle-aged men kill themselves every year, with men in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s from disadvantaged backgrounds being at ten times….

A LESSON The former £41,000 a year campaign director for the League Against Cruel Sports, Steven Taylor, has been jailed for eight months for defrauding the charity of….

BADGER-KILLING COMING A cull of Britain’s badgers, based on the claim by farmers that it will halt the spread of TB in cattle, is being piloted in west Gloucestershire and….

DUCK THE ISSUE Meanwhile the cruelty suffered by farm-reared ducks deprived of any access to water, around two-thirds of them currently, is also giving the RSPCA….

EAT UP One interesting charity idea using the web is Casserole, which puts those who can’t easily cook for themselves in touch with those prepared to cook a little more….

CHARITY VENUE IN WATERLOO The Waterloo Conference Centre, Sandall Street, London, SE1 8UJ, is contained within the Unoin Jack Club, a service charity….

SAFE INVESTMENT? An interactive webcast focussing on safe charity investment is taking place live at 3.00pm on Wednesday, October 18th and presented by Third….

TIME FOR A CHARITY CLEAN UP

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Charity chuggers employed by Tag Campaigns have been the subject of an undercover investigation by the Sunday Telegraph, following a tip-of from a whistleblower.

This found that members of the public stopped in the street were being aggressively intimidated, misled and lied to by chuggers employed by Tag, in order to persuade them to divulge their mobile phone numbers, to facilitate a text donations campaign. Tag were working on behalf of Marie Curie Cancer Care and it was revealed that its two founders, also the sole shareholders, had taken £1.2 million in dividends in the last three years. Continue reading →

LEARNED BEHAVIOUR

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Bullying has been taking centre stage in the media recently.

According to education standards watchdog, Ofsted, nearly half of all pupils have suffered some form of bullying at school, with 58% of those in primary schools and 41% in secondary’s claiming they had been picked on, though how much of this was from teachers and how much from other pupils was not revealed. What was clear was that mostly the abuse concerned the way the abused looked, including hair colour, weight and the wearing of spectacles. Some teachers pointed out that the parents and carers of the children harboured racist, homophobic and aggressive attitudes that were at odds with the values they were trying to instil.

Bullying can have tragic consequences, witness the 12-year old boy from Harrogate who hanged himself in June, reportedly over being bullied. Continue reading →

DO THEY CARE?

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The government is backtracking on plans to cap the amount the elderly have to pay for their own care.

Experts have recommended £25,000 but the figure ministers are considering is £100,000, and they will not now be making a decision until 2015.

This, say Age UK will have a devastating impact on people who need care now.